All Forum Posts by: John Schmiesing

Guys, I agree with what you're saying. Couple of things:

1) if we KNOW they are illegal immigrants, we will not rent to them, period. The issue here is if they fake that they are legal, when in fact they are not....this situation would be unbeknownst to us. That said, if I 'suspect' they are illegal immigrants, I have no grounds to not rent to them.

2) Dan: the destruction situations you're mentioning above could happen with any tenant, legal or not. I agree with your point, however, when saying they are not likely to call about repairs. Plus, even those who are legally here with a green card, visa, etc etc, can be asked to leave the USA, at any time. I have heard of many cases where this occurred to perfectly legitimate persons who were here working and contributing to our economy, legitimately.

Also...RE: FHA, I assume it is not discrimination to not rent to persons who may be here illegally?

Concerns run through my mind such as...how would we evict, if ever necessary, if they are illegal? Would the legal system come back on us as landlords if it becomes known we were (unknowingly) renting to illegal immigrants?

Lots of potential pitfalls run through my head with this situation. Any / all advice is much appreciated.

To note: These people seem to check out in many respects. Apparently they have employment (good), neither have a criminal record (good). But we have no identification yet....

Aside from the issues noted above, I would rent to them in a heartbeat.

Guys, thanks. I did a bit more digging and uncovered some information on the government's website.

It would appear that there are situations where immigrants do not need a SSN, but those who are legitimately working do need a SSN.

http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10096.html

However, the situation still raises red flags. I will ask the prospective tenants what they can provide for ID. We have also called the employer, and are waiting a call back from them.

Hi all,

This is my first post, I am a long-time reader of the site; quite impressed!

I am relatively new to the REI landscape also; we just bought an additional property, and our first we have owned for almost a year now.

Anyway, our current issue is that a good tenant decided he couldn't pay and he moved out w/o drama....no big deal.

We have some prospective tenants we would like to move forward with, except they are unable to produce a SSN, as they must have immigrated to the US at some point. The woman also says that her husband doesn't have a driver's license (yet apparently has a job and drives to/from said job). Thus far we haven't seen anything in the way of identification...this is the issue.

Obviously, this raises red flags. To note; I will not move forward with this unless I see some ID. My questions are as follows:

1) For those who immigrate but aren't US citizens, I assume I'm looking for a valid green card to identify the person(s)?

2) If they are in some way illegal immigrants, yet produce some sort of fake ID, are we, as landlords, breaking the law in any way if we rent to them? Is there a way to protect against this situation?

Any other thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks everyone,

-John